Software VP At Palm Walks Away, Others Kept On With Bonuses

Something is up at Palm. There's no more debate about that. Earlier in
the week, there were all sorts of relatively believable reports that
Palm was up for sale, with Lenovo and others being named as potential
buyers. Of course, Palm has been struggling for years now in an attempt
to reinvent itself, so hearing that the company may be purchased wasn't
all that shocking. But this adds quite a bit of legitimacy to all of
those beliefs, and moreover, it could indicate that something major is
about to happen really soon.

According to paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission here in the U.S., one of Palm's most notable and important
senior vice presidents has announced that he will be stepping down on
April 23rd. That would be Michael Abbott, SVP of software and services,
who will be looking elsewhere for employment starting in the new week.
Mr. Abbott was hugely instrumental in the development of WebOS, which
is the operating system that currently runs on the Pixi, Pixi Plus, Pre
and Pre Plus. It was one of the first mobile operating systems to fully
support multi-tasking, and many say that it beats Apple's iPhone OS in
many ways. But obviously, he knows something that we the people do not.

No Senior VP leaves his or her comfortable corner office without a
really good reason. It's hard to find upper-level jobs such as that,
and there has to be something going on within for him to just up and
leave. Of course, maybe the timing is just coincidental and he's in
need of more time to spend with his family, but given all the other
rumors surrounding Palm, we're beginning to feel like the fire can't be
far from the smoke. Another interesting point is that Palm has had to
dole out packages worth around $250000 to other high-ranking officials
in the company in order to keep them onboard, signaling that more
individuals than just Abbott may have wanted out. Palm may be close to
a deal, thus trying to keep those individuals on so that the purchasing
company has a firm foundation from which to build on.

There's really no accurate way to tell what the state of Palm is right
now. We're guessing the company is in flux, and we're guessing that
someone may be just about to buy them. We suspect the answers to the
nagging questions will be coming sooner rather than later, but Palm as
we know it may not exist by the end of the month. That's a weird
concept to wrap your head around.